Flat-bed cylinder printing-press.



No. 790,574; PATENTED MAY 23, 1905.

W. s. HUSON.

PLAT BBD'GYLINDER PRINTING PRESS.

APPLIOA TION FI LED SEPT. 9. 1904.

a S MS-sum 1.

No. 790.574. PATENTED MAY 23', 1905.

4 W. s. HUSOZN.

FLAT BED CYLINDER PRINTING PRBSS..

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-9.1904.

3 SHEETSSHBET 2.

170,790,574. PATENTED MAY 23, 1905.

W. s. HUSON. 4

FLAT BED CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.9. 1904.

a SHEETE-SHEET s.

UNITE STATES Patented May 23, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WINFIELD s. I-IUSON, OE'DE BY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE 'WHITLOGK. PRINTING PREss MANUEACTURINe COMPANY, OF

DERBY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

FLAT-BED CYLINDER PRINTING-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 790,574, dated May 23, 1905. 1 Application filed September 9, 1904. Serial No. 223,901.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVINEIELD S. HUsON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Derby, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Flat-Bed CylinderPrinting Presses; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the numerals of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a view in elevation of the gear side of my improved printing-press, portions of the frame of the machine being broken away; Fig. 2, a view of the press in horizontal section on the line a 6 of Fig. 1 and looking downward; Fig. 3, a view of the press in vertical longitudinal section on the line 0 cl of Fig. 2 looking toward the feeder side of the press; Fig. 4, a detached broken view in elevation, showing a modified form which the bed-reversing shoes may assume.

My invention relates to an improvement in that form of flat-bed cylinder printing-presses in which the cylinder is rotated in one direction by gearing located outside of the main frame of the press and in which the type-bed is reciprocated by a gear raised into engagement with a rack for moving the bed in one direction and lowered into engagement with a corresponding rack for moving the. bed in the opposite direction.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple, durable, and convenient press of the type described, constructed with particular reference to. the adjustment, as may be required, of the mechanism for driving the cylinder and bed.

With these ends in view my invention consists in aflat-bed cylinder printing-press having certain details of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown I employ a main driving-shaft 2, mountedin the usual manner. in the machine-frame 3 and driven from any convenient source of power. Upon thesaid shaft 2 I locate the main driving-pinion 4:, which meshes into the main driving-gear 5, which is located at one side of the said pinion and which in turn meshes into the cylinder-gear 6, located at the gear end of the cylinder 7, (shown by broken lines.) The said main driving-gear is fixed to the outer end of the main driving-gear shaft 8, which is journaled in an eccentric-bushing 9, having bearing in the machine-frame 3, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. This eccentric-bushing is formed at its outer end with an annular flange 10, provided with a rearwardly-extend- 'ing adjusting-lug 11, the upper and lower faces of which are engaged by jack-screws 12 and 13, mounted in lugs 14. 14, projecting from the machine frame 3, the flange 10 being formed with elongated slots 15 for the reception of retaining-bolts 16, which enter the machine-frame 3. By loosening the said bolts 16 and properly manipulating the jack-screws 12 and 13 the eccentric may be turned in one direction or the other within the limits permitted by the slots 14 for raising and lowering the gear 5, as desired, after which the bolts 16 are again turned to clamp the flange 9 to the machine-frame and hold the eccentric fixed in the adjustment thus secured for it. The object of raising and lowering the main driving-gear 5 is to change its relation to the cylinder-gear 6 as maybe required to meet the adjustment for any cause or purpose of the cylinder 7 with relation to the typebed 32. I amthus enabled to very readily overcome the slight inaccuracies of initial adjustment, as well as to compensate for wear.

The main driving-gear shaft 8 projects at its inner end through the eccentric-bushing 9 and carries a transmission driving-gear 17 which meshes into a wide transmission-gear 18, located at one side of it and turning loosely upon a fixed transmission-gear shaft 19, supported at its outer end in the gear side of the machine-frame 3 and at its inner end in adepending bracket 20,bolted to the inner portion thereof. As the gear 18 is located at side of the axis of the gear 5, the vertical movement of the gear 17 with the gear 5 is, in effect, around the axis of the said gear 18, and therefore does not appreciably alter the relations of the gears 17 and 18, so that the ad- Justment of the gear5 with respect to the cylinder-gear 6 does not affect the relations between the gears 17 and 18. The said transmission-gear 18 meshes into and drives a bedshaft driving-gear 21, which corresponds exactly in-di'ameter and number of teeth to the transmission driving-gear 17 aforesaid and is mounted upon the outer end of abed drivinggear shaft 22, the ends of which are journaled in bearings 23, located at the outer ends of the arms 24 of the bed-shaft hanger, which also comprises hubs 25 25, which receive the shaft 19, upon which the hanger swings, the said hanger being made in one piece and comprising the said bearings 23, arms 24, and hubs 25, as well as a tie-piece 26, uniting the arms 24.

Upon the inner end of the shaft 22 I mount the bed driving-gear 27, which is raised and lowered for alternately bringing it into mesh with the upper bed-rack 28 and the lower bed-rack 29, these racks corresponding in length and being oppositely located one above the other, with the said gear 27 between them and secured to the bed-hanger 30, which is secured in the usual manner by bolts 31 to the lower face of the type-bed 32, which carries the type-form 33.

For the purpose of raising and lowering the bed-shaft hanger for raising and lowering the bed driving-gear 27 I locate in the forward ends of the arms 24 of the bed-shaft hanger eccentric-studs 34, held in any desired positions of adjustment by nuts 35 upon their outer ends. These studs are used for connecting the said hanger with the upper ends of two eccentric-straps 36, the lower ends of which respectively encircle two bed-gear eccentrics 37, mounted upon the bed-gear-eccentric shaft 38, which is furnished with a crankarm 39, connected with the shank of a yoke 41, which slides upon a rectangular yokeblock 42, mounted upon the cam-shaft 43, which is embraced by the yoke and which carries a cam 44, engaged by cam-rollers and 46, mounted in the opposite ends of the yoke. A collar 47, mounted on the cam-shaft 43, is employed to hold the yoke-block 42 in place upon the shaft. The said cam-shaft 43 carries a cam-shaft gear 48, which meshes into an intermediate pinion 49, secured to an intermediate gear 50, which turns upon a stud 51 and meshes into the transmission-gear 18, before described, the ratio of this train of gearing being such that the cam-shaft 43 makes one complete revolution to one complete excursion back and forth of the typebed 32. The action of the cam 44 is to positively raise and lower the bed-shaft hanger, whereby the bed driving-gear 27 is alternately intermeshed with the upper bed-rack 28 and the lower bed-rack 29 and whereby the bed-shaft driving-gear 21 is caused to swing in an arc of a circle with respect to the transmission-gear 18 without breaking mesh therewith.

For the purpose of reversing the movement of the type-bed 32 at the ends of its excursion back and forth I secure a wrist-pin plate 52 to the outer face of the bed driving-gear 27 by means of bolts 53, as shown in Fig. 3. This plate carries a wrist-pin 54, supporting the bed reversing-roller 55, which coacts with two pairs of vertically-arranged bed-reversing shoes respectively located at the outer ends of the bed-hanger 30. The pair of shoes at one end of the bed consists of a fixed shoe 56 and a pivotal shoe 58 and the pair of shoes at the other end of the hanger consisting of a fixed shoe 57 and a pivotal shoe 59. The fixed shoe of each pair is located outside of its pivotal fellow shoe with respect to the length of the bed-hanger. The said pivotal shoes 58 and 59 are mounted upon corresponding vertical shafts 60 and 61, respectively journaled in the fixed shoes 56 and 57. The lower end of the shaft 60 has secured to it an arm 62, carrying a plate-cam roller 63, while the lower end of the shaft 61 is provided with a corresponding arm 64, carrying a corresponding plate-cam roller 65. These plate-cam rollers are entered as the type-bed 32 approaches the end of its stroke in one direction or the other into the cam-path 66 in a cam-plate 67, secured by bolts 68 to the machine-frame.

The bed-reversing mechanism above described operates in the usual and well-known manner, and therefore does not need detailed description more than to say that the machine is timed so that just as the type-bed 32 is being carried to the limit of its excursion in one direction or the other by the action of the bed driving-gear 27 upon one or the other of the bed-racks 28 and 29 one or the other of the two plate-cam rollers 62 and 63 is entered into the cam-path 66 of the plate-cam 67, whereby one or the other, as the case may be, of the pivotal shoes 57 59 is suumginward into posi tion to be engaged by the bed-reversing roller 55 on the wrist-pin 54, carried by the wristpin plate 52, fixed to the outer face of the bed driving-gear 27. The said gear 27 continuing to rotate. the said bed-reversing roller then travels in the vertical pathway formed by the pair of bed-reversing shoes which has had its pivotal shoe swung into play, as described, and finishes the movement of the bed, it being understood that the gear 27 is now disengaged from the rack through which the main movement of the bed was effected. The

movement of the bed-reversing roller through the vertical path between the said pair of shoes operates to retard the bed to a stop, and then as the roller passes the horizontal center of the bed driving-gear 27 the bed is started inthe opposite "direction and gradually accelerated to the normal peripheral speed of the bed driving-gear 27. During this timethat is to say, during the time the bed has been retarded and stopped and started up and accelerated through the medium of the bed-reversing roller-the bed driving-gear 27 has been raised or lowered, as the case may be, through the medium of the cam 44:. Then just as the gear 27 is meshed with the other bed-rack the pivotal shoe is retracted into position to clear the bed-reversing roller by the action of the plate-cam upon one or the other of the plate-cam rollers 63 or 65, as the case may be.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the fixed and pivotal bed-reversing shoes are made with straight surfaces, which will effect a cranklike retardation and acceleration of the typebed at the ends of its stroke, the bed being gradually retarded and gradually accelerated. I may, however, choose to modify this cranklike action, which I can do by curving the faces of the fixed and pivotal shoes on the principle illustrated by Fig. 4, which shows the face 69 of the fixed shoe 7O curved in the form of an archers bow and the face 71 of the pivotal shoe 72 correspondingly curved to form a path having its center and its ends in the same vertical line and curved between its center and its ends. Under this construction the bed will be more rapidly retarded or checked at the beginning of its reversal movement than with shoes having straightfaces and will be more rapidly accelerated in starting up after it has been stopped, the degree of the precise modification in this respect being deter-' mined by the character of the curves, which,

however, will be such that the roller will enter the path between the shoes, bring the bed toa stop at the center of the path, and leave the path all in the same vertical line, the curvature of the path formed by the shoes lying between its center and its ends, as above stated. By curving these-faces as described I am enabled to increase the speed of the press, for the reason that the energy present in the bed is distributed at the point of reversal in such a way as to reduce its reaction upon the frame of the press, which tends to cause the same to creep upon the floor at high speeds.

Patent, is-

thereof, of a main driving-shaft, a main driving-pinion mounted thereupon, a main driving-gear located at one side of and driven by the said pinion and connected with and driving both the said cylinder and the said bed,

"the said main driving-gear being adjustable with respectto the cylinder and the main driving-pinion.

2. In a fiat-bed cylinder printing-press, the combination with the cylinder and the bed thereof, of a main driving-shaft, a main driving-pinion mounted upon the said shaft, a main driving-gear driven by the said pinion, a main driving-gear shaft upon which the said main driving-gear is mounted, an eccentric-bushing mounted in the machine-frame and receiving the said main driving-gear shaft, and means connecting the said main drivinggear with the said bed and with the said cylinder for driving the same in unison, whereby by adjusting the eccentric, the main driving-gear may be adjusted with respect to the cylinder.

3. In a fiat-bed cylinder printing-press, the combination with the cylinder and the bed thereof, of a main driving-shaft, a main driving-pinion mounted thereupon, a main driving-gear located at one side of and driven by the said pinion and driving the said cylinder, means for adjusting the said main drivinggear with respect to the said cylinder and pinion, and means driven by the said main driving-gear for reciprocating the bed, including a transmission-gear located at one side of the axis of the main driving-gear. p

4- In a flat-bed cylinder printing-press, the combination with the cylinder and the bed thereof, of a main driving-gear, a shaft therefor, a transmission driving-gear upon the said shaft, a transmission-gear driven by the said transmission driving-gear, a bed driving-gear, a bed driving-gear shaft, a bed-shaft drivinggear mounted upon the said shaft and corresponding in size to the said transmission driving-gear which meshes into and drives it, a bed-shaft hanger carrying the said bed driving-gear shaft, upper and lower bed-racks, and

means for raising and lowering the said bedshaft hanger, whereby the bed driving-gear is alternately engaged with the said bed-racks.

5. In a flat-bed printing-press, the combination with the cylinder and the bed thereof, of a main driving-gear, a shaft therefor, a transmission driving-gear mounted on the said upon, connection between the said cam and bed-shaft hanger whereby the same isswung &

upon the transmission-gear shaft to raise and lower the bed driving-gear, and an upper and a lower bed-rack for alternate engagement by the bed driving-gear.

6. In a flat-bed cylinder printingpress, the combination with the cylinder and the bed thereof, of a main driving-gear geared to the said cylinder and adjustable with respect thereto, a transmission driving-gear driven by the said main driving-gear, a transmission-gear driven by the said transmission driving-gear, a transmission-gear shaft, a bed-shaft drivinggear meshed into and driven by the said transmission-gear, a bed driving-gear shaft, a bed driving-gear mounted upon the said shaft, a bed-shaft hanger carrying the bed drivinggear shaft, a cam-shaft, a cam mounted thereupon, adjustable connection between the cam and bed-shaft hanger, and upper and lower bed-racks alternately engaged by the said bed driving-gear.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

\VINFIELD S. HUSON. WVitn esses:

CLARA L. \VEED, GEORGE D. SEYMOUR. 

